drron29

From the bus up to Taormina. And now on the top of the Parking station.

Now friday and anchored off Giardini Naxos. Mt. Etna is really smoking. But I was off to Taormina. The Azamara Pursuit was already here.

A night time departure from Malta.

Dinner in Atlantide. We both started with the Beef tartare then I had the lobster bisque and miso glazed cod. Rojaan had the lamb cutlets for mains and then the Eton mess. I finished with a creme brulee. Though not on the menu it can always be ordered.

Yes these pictures are still from Malta. And this is the shuttle boat. And Ponant leaves.

We were on a Silversea charter flight from Churchill to Winnipeg and it was all economy. They flew the new passengers up and all of us back.

Unfortunately you are dropped back at the cruise terminal because of security. The only security was looking at your room card. A joke. But it meant we had to get a shuttle boat to get to our dock. It was an utter shambles as according to other guests who went into Valetta independently they got a shuttle at 1.05 pm and within 5 minutes all the tours arrived back so we got a absolutely packed service at 2pm. Some views from the service.

We leave the Moon tomorrow with our tally up to 421 nights. It will be 2 years before we hit 500 nights with current bookings. And JP the pink jacket made an appearance most nights as informal nights were more numerous than formal + casual nights.

The Church had what the parishioners called a miracle on 9th April 1942 when 3 bombs fell on the church whilst a service was in progress. two deflected off and caused no damage. One pierced the roof but failed to explode. So a replica is on display. And now time to leave the church and get back to the Moon.

So inside the Rotunda.

Now just a short walk to the Rotunda of Mosta. And here it is.

Now a stop to try some Maltese snacks.

The first US Ambasador's residence. The Citadel.

An old RAF structure.

An archeological site.

Now we reach the Blue Grotto but viewed from afar.

The last of the village. Now a bit of a pointless diversion on our way to the Blue Grotto.

The Container port is nearby. One thing I wanted to do was to try a meat pie. I walked past a pastry shop. Didn't look the best but a meat pie was just 2 euro so I bought one. Wasn't a great meat pie but actually one of the best pasties I have had. Many buildings look old but looks can be deceptive.